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Guile (ガイル, Gairu) is a video game character in Capcom's Street Fighter series of fighting games. Although his role in the Street Fighter story is minimal, he is considered the third leading male character in the series, after Ryu and Ken, largely due to his effectiveness as a character and his popularity. In the live action Street Fighter movie, Guile is given the full name of William F. Guile with the military rank of colonel, although Capcom did not canonize it. However, the name was also used in the US Street Fighter cartoon. In the Udon Street Fighter comic book, Guile is the character's first name.

Story

When Guile was a Lieutenant in the United States Air Force, he befriended his superior officer, Charlie and asked Charlie to teach him in his unique form of fighting, which Charlie agreed to do. Guile learned the style, but his hot temper caused him to be not as proficient in the moves as Charlie was (shown in how Charlie can shoot sonic booms with just one hand while Guile needs both, also Charlie's flash kick hits twice vs Guile's once).

In Street Fighter continuity, Guile was not introduced to the series until the events of Street Fighter Alpha 3, when he was sent by the United States Air Force to look for his senior teammate and best friend Charlie, who had gone missing during a secret investigation. Guile's search eventually led him to the Interpol investigator Chun-Li, who warned him not to follow Charlie due to the danger involved. Guile demonstrated his fighting ability, and assured Chun-Li that he would not let their friend come to harm. He eventually found the Shadoloo base in Japan along with the missing Charlie. The sinister and powerful M. Bison appeared and attacked the two soldiers, daring them to follow him inside his Shadoloo base. As Chun-Li investigated another area, Charlie and Guile began to set explosives around their mission objective: Bison's source of power, the Psycho Drive. However, Bison surprised them, and a fight ensued. Charlie convinced Guile to escape while he held Bison off, so Guile took Chun-Li and escaped, right before the base exploded, with Charlie and Bison caught in the blast. Standing on the top of a mountain, Guile says he will always believe in Charlie's memory.

Holding Bison responsible for the death of his best friend, he seemingly dedicated his whole life to exacting revenge on Bison, who had by then somehow survived the explosion. A court case against the Shadaloo dictator failed when Bison bribed all the judges to let him go free. Bison, by this time wanted revenge on Guile, Chun-Li, and many other people who had hindered his syndicate's efforts. To this end, he set up the second World Warrior tournament to trap them.

Although the circumstances on how Guile approached Bison is sketchy, he managed to corner Bison and asked him if he remembered him or his friend Charlie. While Guile threatens the defeated Bison with the intent to kill him, he is stopped.

Family

Guile has a wife, Julia, and daughter, Amy, who appear and urge him not to kill the psychotic dictator, claiming that such behavior could destroy him. They tell him that the past is in the past and that he does not have to pursue his life of revenge. Realizing they are correct, he abandons his pursuit of Bison and retires happily to be with his family. Also, Julia and Eliza are actually sisters, making Ken and Guile brothers-in-law. However, this is not often discussed because Guile does not think very highly of Ken, believing him to be a spoiled rich kid.

Appearance

Early Street Fighter II sketches and notes suggest that Guile was developed specifically to appeal to American fans. His physical appearance is strikingly different from the many Asian characters in the Street Fighter series, with light blue eyes, a chiseled jaw, and a particularly tall flattop haircut. The length of Guile's hair varies greatly from appearance to appearance. It is relatively realistic in Street Fighter II, and impossibly tall in SVC Chaos: SNK vs. Capcom. Capcom sourcebooks suggest that Guile's famous hairdo is styled with a special-order army hair spray to keep it up (though he ends up fixing it quickly after a match).

Another way Guile's image differs from the Asian combatants in the series is his Flag of the United States tattoos. Currently, he has one on each deltoid, which is a retcon from the initial one he had in Street Fighter II artwork (due to sprites in most videogames being forced to be symmetrical).

Finally, Guile's Army fatigues complete his all-American look. The image of the uniformed American soldier is well-known in Japan due to the number of United States Armed Forces bases present in that country.

Guile wears Charlie's dog tag alongside his own, as he searches for Bison.

According to most fan sources(both official and nonofficial)Guile is over 6 feet tall.(His bio at Capcom Classics Collectiosn states that he is 6 feet and 2 inches tall;however,the Super Street Fighter 2 games,Guile is stated of being 6 feet and 1 inches tall.

Gameplay

Guile is generally considered a top tier character in the Street Fighter 2 series. He is considered by most players as the best character after Ken and Ryu. Guile is the first of many characters to introduce the "charge" gameplay style, in that a player must hold in a direction for a few seconds and press in the other afterwards to pull off a special move. This type of gameplay can make Guile a defensive character. Because of the short lag after his Sonic Boom, though, he can follow it and use his various forward-moving attacks to pressure the enemy, which makes him offensively very powerful as well.

Techniques

Guile's two primary Special moves are the Sonic Boom (Projectile based attack) and the Somersault Kick (an anti-air attack). Both moves require a charge motion of-course. Throughout the series, these have been Guile's main special attacks and has been known to have more Super Attacks than special moves. The "Sonic Hurricane" is not a projectile but if it connects, it traps the opponents in and does multiple hits. Somersault Strike is basically his Somersault Kick with two more kicks added in. It acts like Ken's ShoryuuReppa in that it performs three Somersaults. It is also considered one of Guile's most difficult moves to perform. In Capcom vs. SNK he gained another Super Move called "Total Wipeout" which allows him to do consecutive punches that end with a final Backhand punch that knocks the opponent away. This move is similar to a super move he had in the EX series called "Opening Gambit", which also features consecutive punches but ends with a modified side Somersault kick instead of a backhand.

Actors

Guile has had many voice actors in the games he has appeared in, but he is voiced by Tesshō Genda in the majority of them. He is played by Belgian actor Jean Claude Van Damme in the 1994 movie Street Fighter, where he is the main character. Van Damme's line in the movie "Are you man enough to fight with me?" is straight from the game.

See also

• Marvel vs. Capcom series
• SNK vs. series
• Capcom Fighting Evolution

External links

• Guiles's SF2, SFA, SFEX, and MvC entries at StrategyWiki.org
• Sonic Hurricane

Template:Major Street Fighter Characters

• Articles lacking sources from December 2007
• Street Fighter characters
• American video game characters
• Fictional soldiers
• Fictional majors
• Fictional lieutenants
• Fictional military personnel
• Fictional Americans
• Capcom characters